Brazilian specimens of the Solanaceae Source database became available today through SpeciesLink, Brazil's major biodiversity data portal. A total of 1,466 specimens of Solanaceae from the Natural History Museum London (BM) are now available within SpeciesLink searches, integrating the specialist database for the nightshade family with Brazil's digitally available collection data. The remaining Brazilian specimens in the Solanaceae Source will be added to SpeciesLink within the next few months.
The integration with SpeciesLink now means that updated Solanaceae determinations are now easily available for local herbaria that take part in the SpeciesLink network. Curators in each participating herbaria can now check determinations of Solanaceae specimens against duplicate material seen by the taxonomic experts of the Solanaceae family. We expect this will greatly increase the impact of taxonomic resources such as Solanaceae Source, because herbarium curators can access most recent identifications directly online through a single data portal. The ability to compare duplicate specimen identifications, including the name of the determiner and date of the determination, is unique to SpeciesLink and not yet available in other online services such as GBIF.
SpeciesLink and the data cleaning tools available through CRIA's projects provide a dynamic platform of spreading taxonomic data effectively across the globe. Solanaceae Source team is equally keen to use the data cleaning tools for geography available through the web portal. Thank you CRIA!